Regulating the Net

[Ulf Möller]

> Note the privacy protections being written into law in Germany:
> 
> "Privacy protection: Personal data can be gathered only to the
> extent that is necessary to perform the requested service (like
> connecting to the Internet) or for accounting purposes, and must be
> erased immediately thereafter. The consumers must be forewarned of
> the type, scope and place of the data collection and have the right
> to access their personal information at any time."
> 
> Since this bill is now passing into law, I will expect an immediate 
> exodus of corporations from the country in order to avoid these 
> draconian laws.  Better start selling my deutschemarks, huh?

There is nothing much new in that law.  Internet service providers
have always been subject to the general Privacy Law.  Also have a look
at the EU privacy directive, which is similar in spirit:
http://www.echo.lu/legal/en/dataprot/directiv/directiv.html

You'll probably not be very surprised to learn that e.g. many credit
card companies operate from Denmark or the Netherlands, and that even
the state-owned railway company has orders for their customer cards
processed in the US and the cards mailed from Holland.